


Spouse Stories

by kushamisaru



Category: What Remains of Edith Finch (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Maybe Rick?, Other, idk yet he's not a spouse and I don't like him but there IS story potential there so, we'll see, wroef
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-28 00:53:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15696840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kushamisaru/pseuds/kushamisaru
Summary: They may not be blood Finches, but their stories deserve to be told too.





	Spouse Stories

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there!
> 
> I'm super excited to share this with you all, but also super nervous because this will be the first time I've written and posted a fanfiction for consumption by the public eye since... 2013, it looks like! So there's a good chance I am very rusty, and I'm sorry if that shows in this first chapter. Regardless of where you stand on that issue, I promise the next one will be better.

“You’re doing it again.”

The words weren’t accusatory, or angry, or upset, even though those emotions would be justifiable when your husband’s twitching kept you up until 3 in the morning. They were matter of fact, observational.

“I’m sorry, darling. Just having trouble getting comfortable is all.”

Edie turned to face her husband and sat up.

“It’s a good thing you don’t make a habit out of lying, because you’re awful at it.”

Sven ran his hands over his face, sighing a reluctant sigh and smiling a sad smile.

“As always, you see right through me, my love.”

“Is it about Walter again?”

“He’s getting worse. I don’t know if you see it, but I do. It was bad enough when Barbara died, but now that Calvin’s gone too… I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen him smile, or heard him laugh…”

“Grief has no schedule. Don’t you miss them too?”

“Of course I do. And I miss Molly and your father. But this seems different. I feel like he’s so afraid to die he’s forgotten how to live.”

“Well, unfortunately, that’s the life he was born into. A life revolving around death. I warned you about this.”

“And I told you I don’t care; curse, no curse, I love you,” he said soothingly, pulling his wife into his arms, “But I love our son too, and I hate seeing him walk around like the weight of the world is on his shoulders.”

“I do too. So, my love, what do you propose we do?”

“That’s the problem, I don’t know yet.”

“Well, would you like to know what I think?”

“Always, dear.”

“I think Walter just hasn’t found the right outlet to relieve his stress. I have my portraits, you have your totem pole, and Sam has his photos and his dream of going into the marines. Walter’s on his way, but he seems stuck between the sea and trains. Maybe you could help him choose, and work with that choice.”

“Hmmm… that’s interesting.”

“Interesting enough that you’ll let us get some sleep?”

“You know what? It just might be! My beautiful, smart, wonderful wife, whom I love with all my heart, thank you, and sleep well.” As the words spilled out, Sven was barely able to keep himself from yelling, giddiness rising as ideas were already starting to form. He gave his wife a few thankful kisses before turning on his back and closing his eyes. Edie, just as grateful, rested her head on his chest and muttered a sleepy “I love you too, dear.” before falling asleep herself.

~

When Edie woke a few hours later her first two thoughts were as follows: upon seeing her husband was no longer in bed with her, a rare occurrence since she was usually the first to get up, she assumed their late nighter caused her to oversleep, then, when she looked at the clock, she wished that she had. Still, she got up, got dressed and decided to look for him before starting the day. It turned out to be fairly easy, they didn’t have the quietest table saw in the world.

“Good morning, sweetheart!” said Sven, more chipper and energetic than she’d seen him in years.

“Well. Good morning to you too!” Edie responded, baffled but sharing his joy. “Have you been up long?”

“Haha, well, actually I only slept for about an hour last night. Don’t worry though, I’m fine!”

Edie wasn’t one to care much about safety, but hearing that did cause her smile to falter a bit. “Well, maybe whatever you’re working on can wait while you get a little more rest?”

“Sorry, but I need as much time as I can get. This project’s gonna be a big one!”

“And what exactly is this project?”

“Well, you remember how you said I should help Walter choose between the ocean and trains? I figured I’d go with the ocean. And once I did that, I started thinking about Molly, and… her story. And then I remembered that drawing she made on her chalkboard, with the dragon in the water.”

“I think she labeled it as a monster.”

“Well, this is going to be a dragon. A dragon shaped water slide! What do you think?”

“Well, I like the idea, but I’m not sure if -”

“Mom? Dad?”

The pair turned to see the younger of their two remaining children, Walter, standing at the door, looking distressed.

“What’s going on? Why are you using that thing again? Did something happen?” His face paled as a (thankfully false) realization hit him “Is Sam okay?!”

Edie and Sven hadn’t given it much thought before then, but the last time Sven had used the table saw or was even downstairs for an extended period of time was to make Calvin’s totem. They both passed concerned glances at each other before Sven looked back at him and approached him, smile on his face.

“Everybody’s okay, son. The only problem here is you ruined the surprise!”

“Surprise?”

“Your old man is working on a huge gift for your birthday!”

“…But my birthday isn’t for another two months…”

“That’s how big it is! It’s gonna take a while to finish. But you’ll love it, I promise.”

Walter relaxed significantly, returning to his normal state of worry and anxiety.

“Oh, okay. I’m sorry I ruined the surprise.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it, kiddo,” Sven reassured, ruffling his son’s hair, then motioning to the table saw, “This gal’s bad at keeping secrets anyway. You were gonna hear eventually.”

It was at this point Edie decided to step in, placing a hand on Walter’s shoulder.

“Walter dear, why don’t you go see if your brother is awake yet, and I’ll get started on breakfast. You can help again, if you want.”

“Yes, mom,” was Walter’s meek reply. He made his way to the bottom of the stairs before turning back.

“Dad?”

“Yes, son?”

“Please be careful.”

And with that, he disappeared up the stairs for real.

“You’ll join us for breakfast, won’t you?” Edie asked, still a little concerned.

“Of course, dear!”

“Good. You know you’ll always have my love and support. But for today, listen to your son and take it easy.”

“You have my word,” he said with the utmost sincerity, before adding with a devilish smirk, “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

Edie rolled her eyes and smiled, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll let you know when breakfast is ready.”

~

Walter was superstitious, there was no doubt about that. But that didn’t mean he was gullible, or stupid. Every day, when his father would go down to the basement to begin working on the working on his latest project, Walter was there at the door, waiting, with the exact same message every time.

“Please be careful, dad.”

And Sven would smile guiltily and sadly because he could tell what Walter meant by that, because he knew what the full statement behind those words was, even if Walter was unaware or simply too polite to say them out loud.

_Be careful because the last time you weren’t terrible, terrible things happened and whatever I saw and heard will haunt me until the day I die._

And Sven’s response would always be the same too; he’d pat Walter on the head, say, “I will be, son. I promise.” And then he’d go downstairs and get to work. Then, save for bathroom breaks or meals (which Sven would come upstairs for anyway) Walter would wait by the closed basement door until Sven reemerged, done with the day’s work.

Walter knew this routine alone wasn’t keeping his father safe. Sven wouldn’t be any more or less destructive if he missed a day. Still, they’d go through it everyday, and because everyday Sven would emerge from the basement unharmed, as silly as it was, it put Walter’s mind at ease.

One day though, Sven decided to break the routine. He opened the basement door, looked as his son, and smiled a genuine smile, not a sympathetic one.

“You know, son… since the cat is out of the bag anyway, there’s no reason you can’t take a look at the progress I made! And then you can make sure I’m being careful yourself. What do you say?”

Memories of the basement splotched with his father’s blood briefly flashed through his mind, but then he actually looked at him, currently unharmed and hopeful, and pushed them away.

Walter was a passive viewer in the beginning literally doing only what Sven had suggested; watching him and making sure he was being safe. But slowly Sven roped him into a more active role. He started him off with doing measurements and marking where he should cut, then he moved on to doing simple calculations (ones he knew the answer to anyway just in case Walter slipped up), then he had him help with painting. Finally, all the pieces were made and ready to assemble.

“All except one…” Sven accidentally mused out loud instead of in his head.

“Did you say something, dad?”

“Walter, we’re down to the last piece we need, and I think you’ve seen me do this enough times that you should be able to yourself.”

Walter’s expression went from neutral to terrified in record time.

“M-me? Using that t-thing?” he stuttered, starting to breathe heavy.

“Ah, okay, never mind! You don’t have to!” Sven reassured him, putting a hand on his shoulder, until Walter seemed to calm down. When he did, Sven went to get the piece of wood himself and set on the table.

“Even without seeing it myself, I still believe you could do it if you wanted to. So don’t worry.”

The words were genuine, they weren’t meant to guilt trip, but Walter felt ashamed of himself all the same. He watched as his dad went to put the piece of wood through the table saw in what felt like slow motion, and before he could think the words had already left his mouth.

“Um… actually! I think I would like to try. If that’s okay.”

“Of course it is! Don’t worry, I won’t let you hurt yourself!” Sven beamed, motioning for Walter to come closer and continuing “This cut is just gonna be that top part, not all the way through. So your hands won’t even have to get too close. Just keep it straight and you’ll be fine.”

Walter nodded and lined the mark up with the saw, the way he’d seen his dad do several times. And, by way of his incredibly careful nature, made a perfect cut.

“Look at that! My boy is a natural!” If Sven was beaming before, he was radiant now, as he pulled his sun away from the table and into a air depriving bear hug, “That was perfect, Walter! I knew you could do it!”

“Dad, you’re hurting me…”

“Sorry, kiddo! I’m just so proud of you! I’m going to get your mother. Turn that thing off, we’re finally done with it.”

If Sven had been just a little less eager, he would have seen the big, bright smile from his son he’d been missing for years. On that day, Sven presented a third option to the list of coping mechanisms to his son; making things.

~

The first smile Sven _would_ see from Walter was when he came to Sven and volunteered to help actually build the slide, and he was so shocked he dropped all the supplies he’d been carrying at the time. But from that point on, they were truly partners in the project, not just assistant/observer and worker. The busy work kept Walter from drifting too far into his own mind, and Sven was over the moon at the fact that Walter was happy, genuinely happy again for the first time in what felt like forever. Even better, it was through a shared passion! And Walter’s elevated mood brought up the rest of the family’s mood too.

They finished the slide just in time for Walter’s birthday, as planned. Although he was the birthday boy, Sven insisted on being the one the to test run it, just to make sure there weren’t any snags.

It was a decision that cost him his life, and changed Walter’s forever.

Walter never knew if they were aware, but he heard the pact Sam and Calvin made at Barbara’s funeral. To never be afraid again. That night, Walter had been afraid. He had hidden, like a coward. Maybe if he hadn’t done that, he and Barbara could have escaped together. Maybe if he hadn’t acted so afraid of everything since then, his father wouldn’t have felt the need to build him a **stupid dragon slide he hated it now he cursed it everyday every time he saw it and it just mocked him, swelling and absorbing water from that dumb pond that he also hated-**

He could never prove it, but Walter always suspected that his brothers left him out of that pact on purpose.

On his 12th birthday, Walter made his own pact.

He’d never build anything again. Or at least not as big as the slide.

(And he didn’t, aside from the bunker.)

He would live to a nice old age, no matter what it took.

(And he did.)

Even if he was the only one in his generation to do it.

(And he was.)

But most importantly, he’d never, ever, **ever** let his guard down again.

(And he didn’t… until he did. And that was the last mistake he’d ever make.)

**Author's Note:**

> So there you have it! One spouse down, two, maybe three to go! I hope you enjoyed it! 
> 
> Not a lot of people noticed that Sven died on Walter's birthday, but as soon as it was brought to my attention I immediately fell in love with the idea of Sven making that cursed slide for his son. 
> 
> Originally, I wanted to go in chronological order (which would be Sven, Kay, and Sanjay) but Kay is going to be a special case. Why? Because I'm not 100% convinced Kay is dead during the events of the game. So I have a few ideas on what I could do with her based on when I think is the most likely time she died, or if she died at all. What do you guys think? Is Kay alive? Is she dead? If she's dead, when did she die? Help a girl out.
> 
> Anyway, on that note, Sanjay will be next. I've got a solid plot line for his story so it'll just be a matter of writing and posting it lol. 
> 
> Feedback is very much appreciated!


End file.
